2 February 2015

It is awesome to have all the kids back bouncing around keen and eager to get on with the year!

We love hearing all the holiday stories (and tall tales ha!) 2015 Dates Term 1 - Tuesday 27 January – Thursday 2 April Term 2 - Monday 20 April – Friday 3 July Term 3 – Monday 20 July – Friday 25 September Term 4 – Monday 12 October – Thursday 10 Dec (at this stage) Please remember that this Friday is Waitangi Day so there is no school.

Thought to begin the year: As I was staring down the barrel of another school year during the holidays, and having conversations with other people who work in schools over the holidays etc, you really realise how lucky we have it here. We are supported by our whanau to develop our own unique character as a school with trust and backing from the whole community. We are lucky that there can be a mix of formal and casual, serious and fun, and where we can have amazing experiences with our kids. We have a fantastic group of kids who support each other, fight like siblings, but who overall will have each others’ backs. Bring on another year with all of this going for us! A heap of beginning of the year reminders: Contacts Please make sure we have up-to-date contact details – it is really important we can get hold of you at any time should something happen. It is often at the times of most need that we discover we do not have correct information. This includes for your emergency contacts please. Absences We can waste a lot time in a day chasing up missing kids. Please ring or text if your child is going to away for any reason. You can do this at any time of the day or night as there is an answer phone on the phone. Phone 2128523 Text 027 566 7878 Open door policy Please all remember that you are more than welcome to come in and talk to anyone at any time if you are concerned about anything (feel free to also let staff know if you are happy with something!) ‘Fees’ We DO NOT charge fees. Fees are money just to gather money resources. We try to keep costs to an absolute minimum and charge only for actual costs. Each student pays $20 for stationery – we provide pens, pencils, rulers, felts, rubbers etc; and $30 for the bus trips throughout the year. Bus trips from here are really expensive and this helps us cover these. Homework We endeavour to keep this as stress-free as possible as we really believe kids should be out playing and experiencing lots of things not tied to school work at home. All students will have spelling words Tues/ Wed/ Thurs nights, a set of flashcards at all times, and are expected to read each night – younger learners will have a book sent home but older ones can read anything as long as it increasing mileage. Don’t be bored! There are always heaps of jobs that can be done at school so I would hate to think of any of you sitting at home bored! We always value help with reading with kids, or doing flashcards or sorting resources etc. Next newsletter we will also be outlining other jobs you could volunteer for.

Facebook Page Please remember that we have a facebook page that anyone can view whether you have your own facebook page or not. We put wee bits and bobs on there quite regularly. www.facebook.com/bluffschool Swimming School swimming starts next week for everyone. Mondays – Pukeko and Kereru Tuesdays – Weka and Tui Wednesdays – Takahe and Kakapo All the classes walk to the pool after lunch (weather permitting) and the goal is to be in the pool at 2.00pm. Children are then dismissed from the pool at 3.00 to go home. Homework Centre and Art Class at the marae Both of these start up next week Art Classes These run Mondays for Years 1-4 students, and Wednesdays for Years 5-8 students. Anyone is welcome – you sign up by turning up and filling in a registration form. Homework Centre This runs Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is funded by the ministry of education, but has an axe over its head as the numbers attending mean that there is a very real chance that they will not fund it anymore. This is an invaluable resource and the kids that go really benefit. We are incredibly fortunate that Elena and Nanny Fran run it as they know how our flashcards, spelling etc work, so it is a great chance for your child to have their homework done with supervision – saves you a job so send them along! It is intended to target students in Years 4 up although the ladies do a fantastic job with the younger ones that also rock along.

Some photos from Weka: Oral Language – ‘Who am I’

In the new ‘writing cave’

Staffing Change: The sad reality of any workplace is you can’t keep people forever (no matter how much you try and guilt them into staying!). This year Daphne Lindsay has accepted a job working for the University of Otago, Southland Campus as a Literacy Advisor – this means she will be going out into other school helping them with their teaching of reading and writing. This shows just how amazingly skilled she is in this area and how fortunate we are to have had her expertise for as long as we have. She has not left us completely – she will in from time to time and will continue to work with our teachers this year on and off. (This will allow us to wean ourselves off her ha!). We hope she loves the new job and realise we are lucky to be able to keep her for any time at all this year. We will be sorting anew Reading Recovery person as soon as we can and keep you up dated if this affects your child. Have a great week everybody!! Alison ☺